Here is a story about what has become my favorite verse in the bible:
I was teaching a 1st and 2nd grade Sunday school class and the material had given us a memory verse for the month: “Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you”. That was all well and good until I tried to teach it to the kids. They really didn't get what it was saying. Every week we would have to go over what “cast” meant and what is “anxiety”? When that month was over I was very happy…time for something more age appropriate.
Shortly after that we were headed to Haiti for our first overseas mission trip. We were going with a group that was not really well known and we basically went there on faith that this is what we were called to do. I did not sleep a full night for a couple weeks leading up to our trip and I was a bit on the manic side. Then we got to Haiti, and all the fears were proven correct.
We ended up getting through baggage claim at the airport and rushed outside way faster than we would have liked. We he had been told that we would be picked up at the airport, but did not know a name or phone number, and we did not have an address. We were left outside with Haitian people surrounding us with our 7 bags (full of donations) and no clue where to find our ride. As the other people from our flight left with their groups, we were still left. No sign of our group, unable to move around due to being loaded down with bags, and afraid of what might happen to me if we were to separate.
We asked some people if they knew of our group or the leader and nobody did. So we waited outside (without sunscreen) for 3 hours. We were beginning to talk about going around to the other side of the airport and catching the next flight back to Miami, but what I kept hearing was “cast all your anxiety on Him”.
This repeated in my head as we desperately searched for an answer, and then it came. Coming out from a different part of the airport were 3 people wearing the T-shirt of the group we were with. They too had been looking for us for 3 hours. We were brought to the house we would be staying at, and a couple hours later met the rest of our group. By the end of the night we knew that we were exactly where we were supposed to be.
As I went to bed at night it was driving me crazy trying to remember where that verse was from. The good teacher that I was had forgotten. So I searched for about an hour and finally gave up. I went ahead and turned to what I had been reading at home, and I was ready for 1 Peter chapter 5. Imagine my surprise when I came to verse 7 and found the very verse that I had been searching for.
I guess the month of that verse was more for me than for the kids. Since then that verse has become “my verse”. There was no denying that God wanted me to pay attention to this one. Never before had God spoken to me as clearly as He did that day. In a time that I would normally be having a complete breakdown, He knew the words to calm me.
As training camp and launch are fast approaching, my anxiety level is high. I am anxious about my teammates not liking us, the logistics of gear and flights, the conditions that we will be living in, and what exactly we will be doing. Fortunately for me I have an amazing God that cares for me. So I will continue to repeat to myself:
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” 1 Peter 5:7
